"Eighty breaths!"
Li An dashed from the forest a mile away to the foot of Spirit Plant Mountain in only eighty breaths, less than two minutes!
This was thanks to his light-footed technique and his familiarity with the terrain.
Without hesitation, he followed the route he had scouted last time, swiftly climbing Spirit Plant Mountain.
It took him about three hundred breaths, roughly five minutes, to reach the spot from last time.
Primarily because he didn't want to alert Fan Jie.
Fan Jie's dwelling was still lit, he hadn't rested.
Li An lightened his steps, quietly reaching the corner of Fan Jie's dwelling.
"Hmm?"
Glancing towards the medicine field, he noticed that the Fire Spirit Fruit, which was only half-ripe a few days ago, had grown significantly, now the size of a baby's fist.
It seemed that Fan Jie must have brought back some ripening medicine!
After all, the threat from the Hundred Beasts Sect had arrived, and Fan Jie wanted the Fire Spirit Fruit to mature to Tier Two before they came!
Otherwise, it would be a huge loss!
"How could this be... wasn't the Fire Poison already suppressed?"
Inside the room, Fan Jie's voice vaguely came through.
"The pain is killing me... how could this be! Damn it, not giving me a Purifying Essence Pill is one thing, but is there something wrong with the Antitoxic Powder too?!"
He seemed to be groaning in pain.
Li An then mobilized his Spiritual Qi, and from ten steps away in the Spirit Field, a water arrow instantly appeared, cutting off the stem of a Fire Spirit Fruit.
The Fire Spirit Fruit plopped to the ground, the water arrow exploded with a sound.
"Who's there!"
Fan Jie hurriedly rushed out of the room and saw the Fire Spirit Fruit that had fallen in the medicine field, he was immediately surprised and suspicious: "How did it fall..."
He walked to the medicine field, bending down to pick up the Fire Spirit Fruit.
And at this moment—
Whoosh!
The sound of an arrow tearing through the air instantly echoed.
"Not good!"
Fan Jie turned his head sharply, two water arrows were already coming towards him.
He quickly waved his hand, casting a Spirit Talisman, a flash of yellow light appeared, and an earth shield blocked the water arrows.
He used the Earth Shield Talisman!
However, just as the water arrows were blocked, he felt a piercing cold wind, making his whole body stiff and even difficult to move.
Cold Wind Talisman!
Simultaneously, from four directions, four bursts of fire exploded.
Fire Spirit Talismans... four of them!
"Damn!"
Fan Jie's face changed drastically, the fire was about to engulf him.
But the robe on his body suddenly tore apart, revealing a piece of broken soft armor, emitting a faint white light—a Yellow Rank Low Grade protective Magical Artifact!
The power of the four exploding Fire Spirit Talismans was mostly blocked by that faint white light.
Just as the Fire Spirit Talismans dissipated, two more water arrows shot towards him!
"Dare to ambush me..."
Fan Jie shouted, he had already seen the figure at the corner of the wall, mobilizing Spiritual Qi, instantly forming a fiery red shield.
—Yellow Rank Low Grade Spell, Fire Shield Skill!
Simultaneously, a fireball formed in his hand, which he launched with full force.
But his body started to tremble violently at this moment, the fireball immediately scattered, barely traveling a few meters.
"Pugh!"
Fan Jie spat a mouthful of blood, convulsing all over.
—The Fire Poison erupted!
His Fire Poison, which had been suppressed, had become erratic and violent in the past few days, reaching the limit.
At this moment, using Spiritual Qi to fight, the balance was broken, the toxins exploded.
And in the air, two more water arrows shot towards him!
"Damn..."
Fear filled Fan Jie's eyes, unable to use Spiritual Qi, he was no different from a cripple.
He hurriedly grabbed his storage bag to open it, but before he could, his heart felt like it was hit by a heavy hammer.
Looking down, he saw a dagger piercing through his First Grade Low Rank protective armor, precisely stabbing into his heart.
"How... is this possible!"
He was stunned, collapsing straight to the ground.
And from the dark, five more water arrows suddenly shot out.
All five water arrows hit his body.
The low-grade soft armor had been cut open at a corner, the artifact markings destroyed, it was no longer effective, the five water arrows added five more blood holes to his body.
But the person in the dark still didn't let go, firing water arrows frantically, shooting dozens of arrows, almost piercing Fan Jie into a sieve.
Then, a figure suddenly leapt out and landed beside Fan Jie.
Li An quickly pulled out the Star Shard Dagger, picked up Fan Jie's storage bag, and dropped the last fire talisman on Fan Jie's body.
Fan Jie's corpse instantly burst into roaring flames.
Li An moved swiftly, discarding everything in Fan Jie's storage bag, including dozens of spirit stones, assorted spirit medicines, bottles and jars, and even a flying ship magical artifact worth hundreds of spirit stones!
Obviously, Fan Jie had made ample preparations for this escape. Once he heard the spirit bell ringing, he would immediately ride the flying ship and escape, so the beast horde couldn't catch up to him.
But Li An didn't even glance at these magical treasures and spirit stones. He plucked all four fire spirit fruits and put them in the storage bag, then turned and ran.
"Didn't exceed the time, two hundred and fifty breaths, still in time!"
The battle with Fan Jie was lightning-fast and very brief, lasting only about three minutes. Including the cleanup, it didn't exceed four minutes.
Based on estimates, it would take another five minutes for the spirit beasts to reach the cave where he and Wang Zilin were hiding.
This time descending the mountain, Li An sprinted with all his might and used only one minute.
Three minutes later, Li An returned to the mountains and forests.
It took about a minute longer than when he went to Spirit Plant Mountain because Li An took a brief stop at a stream along the way and stuffed Fan Jie's storage bag into the thick mud of the stream!
He also put the remaining Cold Wind Talisman and Earth Shield Talisman into the storage bag, not keeping them on him.
The deafening roars of spirit beasts were already coming from the mountain entrance.
—Listening to this sound, it seemed even longer than Li An estimated, at least another seven or eight minutes to reach here.
As Li An expected, the enemies discovered that a spirit bell was placed in the mountains and forests of Spirit Plant Mountain, so they must be cautious and slowed down slightly.
Li An ignored this and directly sneaked into the cave.
He immediately operated the Life Nourishing Immortal Skill, letting the breath of the life seed slowly disperse.
He grabbed Wang Zilin's hand, allowing this breath to also conceal Wang Zilin's life aura.
Both of them seemed to turn into grass and trees, roots!
As time passed bit by bit, outside the cave, the sound of trembling earth finally came; Li An heard the long howl of the demon wolf, heard the roar of the spirit tiger...
He also heard the thunderous ringing of the spirit bell set by Fan Jie!
Li An's heart instantly tightened. Even though their hiding cave was among a pile of rocks, very concealed.
Even though his Life Nourishing Immortal Skill was extremely effective in disguising auras.
But, in such a dangerous environment, who knew if there would be a ten-thousand-to-one accident, a thousand-to-one coincidence, exposing themselves?
He was extremely nervous!
...
At the same time.
At the foot of Spirit Plant Mountain, Zhang Susu awoke from her sleep in shock.
She was in a panic, loudly calling Fan Jie's name, not even dressed properly, she ran towards the mountain.
...
Outside Spirit Plant Mountain, somewhere on the mountain road leading to the outer sect, between the cliffs.
"They should have come."
An elder stood atop a mountain peak, gazing towards the direction of Spirit Plant Mountain and said:
"Just now, news came from both the market and the mining area simultaneously, they were attacked by unknown forces."
"Haha, the opponent is trying to lure us away, wanting to draw us elsewhere so they can charge out of Spirit Plant Mountain and heavily hit the core area of our sect..."
"Prepare, wait until the enemies charge through Spirit Plant Mountain and enter the mid-section, then encircle and annihilate them here!"
...
Meanwhile, at the foot of a certain mountain.
"What a pity!"
A middle-aged man in a fiery robe looked at the message in the jade talisman, couldn't help but lament: "Just another seven days, only seven days, the fire spirit fruits would have been fully ripe!"
"That damned Hundred Beasts Sect ruined my major plans!"
He clenched his fists, eyes full of hatred, "If I had known they would come to Spirit Plant Mountain, I should have used the Rapid Maturity Powder earlier. Initially considered that naturally maturing would result in higher quality, so I kept waiting. Never expected that now it's not even reaching Tier Two!"
"Senior Brother Lu, are you sure you trust Fan Jie with those Tier Two spirit medicines, the fire spirit fruits...?"
Beside him, a young man couldn't help but worry and ask.
The man in the fiery robe said coldly:
"He's infected with fire poison, he'll have to come to me to save himself!"
"What if he pilots the flying ship, doesn't follow our plan, and directly escapes the sect forever..."
The young man was a bit worried. After all, even though the fire spirit fruits are not fully mature this year, that spirit vine is invaluable. Once successfully taken and well-cultivated, it can eventually bear Tier Two spirit fruits in the future.
For a low-level disciple like Fan Jie, this is already a massive immortal opportunity.
"I left marks in the Antitoxic Powder I gave him and on that flying ship. If he dares to betray, there's only one path for him—death..."
The man in the fiery robe sneered, gazing in the direction of Spirit Plant Mountain: "Hm, as per the arrangement, Fan Jie should be arriving soon too."
The young man beside him nodded, "Senior Brother, with the sect now heavily guarded everywhere, arranging for Fan Jie to leave seems very difficult..."
After this affair, everything about Spirit Plant Mountain will surely be exposed, so Fan Jie can no longer stay in the sect.
"If we can't arrange for him to leave the Profound Yang Sect, then arrange for him to leave this world." The man in the fiery robe's words were icy.
...